Wayne Cope

Services will be at 2:00 P.M. on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at the First Baptist Church of Canyon with Rev. Steve Olsen officiating. The family will receive friends on Monday, April 14, 2014 from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. at Brooks Chapel. Burial will be in Dreamland Cemetery. Wayne was born July 31, 1935, on a farm near Happy, TX, to William Thomas Cope and Nellie Stone Cope. He graduated from Happy High School and worked in agriculture and related businesses from the mid 1950's to the mid 1980's. He married Marilyn Johnston on July 24, 1982. He worked several years as a commodities broker for Wy-Tex, and owned several successful businesses throughout his life, including Cope's Feed Ingredients and Palo Duro RV Park. He is best known, though, for Cope's Coney Island, a beloved Canyon eatery. He was an active member of the Canyon community and enjoyed serving with the Kiwanis and Masons. He was honored to receive many civic awards. He was an avid fisherman and also enjoyed boating and hunting. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Canyon and loved spending his mornings drinking coffee with the guys at Happy State Bank. He also loved traveling, especially to South Texas to spend winters socializing with his many friends there. He was preceded in death by his parents, one sister, Muriel Faye Taylor, and the mother of his children, Waurayne Walker Cope. Survivors include his wife, Marilyn; one sister, Dorothy Mae Finley of Abilene; two daughters, Denise Van Meter and husband, Rex, of Amarillo, and Susan Hill and husband, Bob, of Rock Hill, SC; one son, Bill Cope and wife, Michelle, of Bloomington, IL; three stepsons, Sheldon Johnston and life partner, Jay Youree of Amarillo, Shawn Johnston and wife, Kim, of Amarillo, and Trae Johnston and wife, Shaunah, of Amarillo; 17 grandchildren, Bryan Van Meter and wife, Kenna, Cara Van Meter, Lea Queener and husband, Cal, Nathan Rodriguez and fiancAC.e, Amanda Moss, Taylor Cope, Tucker Cope, Skyler Johnston, Kaycee Cox and husband, Jordon, Kole Johnston, Brooklyn Johnston, Lauren Kreusel and husband, Joshua, Luke Johnston; three great-grandchildren; many nieces, nephews, and cousins; and innumerable friends. The family suggests memorials to the Rockwell Road Baptist Church ""Feed the Children Bus Ministry"", PO Box 31495, Amarillo, Texas 79120.